The Larry Sanders Show
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| The Larry Sanders Show | |
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 Larry Sanders Show Logo |
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| Genre | Comedy |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Dennis Klein & Garry Shandling |
| Starring | Garry Shandling Rip Torn Jeffrey Tambor Penny Johnson Wallace Langham Janeane Garofalo |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original channel | HBO |
| Original run | August 15, 1992–May 31, 1998 |
| No. of episodes | 89 |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Larry Sanders Show was a satirical television sitcom that originally aired from 1992 to 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the USA. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders.
The series, which was partly inspired by Shandling's stint as a guest host on The Tonight Show, is ranked by many critics and fans alongside Seinfeld as one of the best TV comedies of the 1990s. The British Channel 4 poll for The Ultimate Sitcom, which was voted by sitcom writers, performers, directors and producers, rated it the 5th best sitcom ever, putting it ahead of other sitcoms such as The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Cheers.
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[edit] Premise
[edit] Setting
The series was a unique satire of the behind-the-scenes problems and relationships of a network talk show host, his staff and their guests. The plot and situations found in each episode drew heavily from the real-life world of shows like The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show (under both Johnny Carson and Jay Leno), and The Arsenio Hall Show, although many aspects were exaggerated.
[edit] Different kind of sitcom
The Larry Sanders Show was particularly notable because the off-stage segments of the show were shot in single-camera mode, using a film camera (although the "talk show" segments were shot on tape), and had no "laugh track" (most situation comedies are either taped before a live audience or dubbed with canned laughter), which gave it a behind-the-scenes documentary feel. However, it cleverly kept a foot in both camps, so to speak, because the 'on-stage' segments depicting the Larry Sanders Show in production were videotaped with a multiple-camera setup with a live audience—much like a real Tonight Show. However, according to an interview with Tom Shales, Shandling found this to be too time consuming, and after the first season only a select few "live" segments were taped with an audience. The show was also renowned (or notorious) for its profane language, which was allowable in the U.S. on Home Box Office, which is not subject to the same censorship as broadcast television.
[edit] Guests
Most episodes featured celebrity guests who usually played themselves appearing on the fictional Larry Sanders Show, and who were often the primary source of conflict between Sanders and his co-workers. Guests included Elvis Costello, Chris Farley, Sharon Stone, Jon Stewart, Danny DeVito, Rob Reiner and Jon Lovitz among others. One of the most memorable guest spots was the cameo appearance in the final episode by X-Files star David Duchovny, who performed a parody of the Sharon Stone 'flashing' scene from Basic Instinct. Duchovny frequently made cameos on the show, usually flirting with Larry in an unwelcome manner. Also, there was a longtime running joke on the show involving comedian (and one of the series writers) Jeff Cesario about how he would be frequently "bumped" whenever he was booked to appear.
[edit] Cast and characters
In addition to Shandling, the show also starred Rip Torn as Arthur, the show's producer, Jeffrey Tambor as Larry's egotistical sidekick "Hey Now" Hank Kingsley, Janeane Garofalo, Scott Thompson, Wallace Langham, Bob Odenkirk, Jeremy Piven, Linda Doucett, Penny Johnson, Sarah Silverman, Mary Lynn Rajskub and others.
[edit] Crew
Directors and writers of note include Ken Kwapis (The Office (US), Malcolm in the Middle), David Mirkin (The Simpsons, Get A Life), Joe Flaherty (SCTV), Carol Leifer (Seinfeld), comedian Jeff Cesario (Dennis Miller Live), and Adam Resnick (Late Night with David Letterman, Get A Life). Kwapis, who directed the bulk of the first season episodes, was particularly instrumental in determining the style of the program.
[edit] Trivia
- Larry's addiction to pain killers is a regular running gag throughout the show. In the last episode of season 3, it became an addiction, so much that Larry became verbally abusive to his employees.
- A boom microphone is usually visible for a brief moment, its shadow on the walls, or its reflection on glass windows or mirrors.
- Larry has a framed picture of the famous shot from Flags of our fathers
- Larry's favorite snack is frozen yogurt.
- Artie has had four broken marriages and is still divorced.
- Paula, the talent booker, dreams to produce a show. The first time she had the opportunity, in season 2, when Artie was stuck in traffic, she was overwhelmed and terrible. However, in season 5, she turned out to be better than Artie.
[edit] International broadcast
The series also screened in Australia on free-to-air television on Network Ten (in a late-night timeslot, and with some censoring of language) and unedited on the Foxtel cable network's Comedy Channel. It also aired in the UK on BBC Two, originally in late-night slots despite calls by fans and critics for a primetime screening. Regular repeats later appeared on UK Satellite television on the channel Paramount Comedy 1. It returned to (digital) terrestrial TV in the UK on ITV4 in October 2005. It is currently being repeated on the Irish television network RTÉ Two.
[edit] DVDs
- "The Larry Sanders Show - The Entire First Season" was released on February 26, 2002 by Sony Pictures. While appearing on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which aired May 24, 2006, Shandling announced that the second season will be available Fall 2006.
- "The Larry Sanders Show: The Best Episodes" was released by Sony Pictures UK in 2000. It is a compilation containing the following episodes: #302, "Montana" (Robin Williams); #403, "Hank's Sex Tape" (Henry Winkler, Norm MacDonald); #408, "Larry's Big Idea" (Courtney Cox, David Letterman); #412, "I Was a Teenage Lesbian" (Brett Butler). Also included are two first season episodes ("The Guest Host," "The Talk Show"), as well as the second season episode, "The List" (#203) which was left out of the US cable syndication package offered to Bravo. However, it is available to local affiliates.
[edit] Books
- Confessions of a Late-night Talk-show Host: The Autobiography of Larry Sanders was written by Garry Shandling in-character as Larry Sanders. It was released October 4, 1999. The book was the topic of season five's episode ten, which was also under the same title.
